Tired of Baseball Training Aids Wasting YOUR Time & Money?

(Republished from SwingSmarter.com)

Did you know...virtually ALL baseball training aids are pulling the wool over our eyes, AND we get duped while smiling? Also, do you think endorsers like Derek Jeter, Fred McGriff, or David Wright actually use their championed hitting products? Nope! Swing Smarter challenges any endorser to prove they use their approved product for the majority of season/off season training.

There are only a select few baseball training aids used by top collegiate and professional programs nationwide, thanks to the versatility of powerful tools like the hitting tee, which have been around as long as the dinosaurs, and have seen as much as the planet as the British Empire.

Unfortunately,

Every other "new" product or manufacturer is just fighting for their share of the pie in a very watered down market. Although, there are a few marginal tools that will help the baseball swing tremendously if used the right way, and with the right know-how.

This article will reveal:

• Common misused language on most hitting aid packaging,
• What characteristics swing aids should be focusing on, and
• How to take the beer goggles off when you're shopping for batting tools!

Common Misused Package Language to Watch Out For
Now, we're NOT saying these manufacturers are lying, but you need to take what they say with a grain of salt; a lot of times they hire writers to word their marketing verb-age, and most times than not, the writer doesn't have experience in hitting a baseball.

Misinformed baseball training aids ad content to red flag are: increase your power, quicken your swing, increases bat speed, build proper muscle memory, reinforce a level swing, improve hitting skills, and improves technique just to name a few.

Power is increased through resistance training and conditioning, economy of motion, and allowing the body to line up correctly throughout the swing. Most tools shouting this from the roof tops do NOT do this.

Quickening bat speed and/or the hands originates from the hips, and swing tempo, NOT the hands. Bat speed gets faster when the hips and rotational cadence allow the three power points to line up: belly button, back knee, and back toe. Quick hands are a myth, power and speed of the hands is energy transferred from the coiling and uncoiling of the hips and spine (steel)...the arms and legs are just along for the ride (cotton).

We don't hit home runs with big arms, we do so with a strong core.

Building proper muscle memory is developed through slow and deliberate properly executed movement, then gradually increased until the optimal 70% hitting speed is reached. Most hitting aids that preach this benefit fall short because they assume you already have a picture perfect swing.

Reinforcing a level swing is just wrong because the swing isn't that way...the barrel actually drops below the hands over the plate in an elliptical shape around the body.

And, "improves hitting skills" & "improves technique," are blanket statements that can mean a plethora of things. Like I said, ad writers who know nothing about the sport are hired to create these baseball training aids ads, and aren't given a second thought.

We don't fault the manufacturers or the innovators, just the people they hire. Would it be smart to hire a pool cleaning person to develop marketing materials for a just-in-business roofing business?

What's more...

What Baseball Swing Copy & Aids Should be Focusing On

• Stressing patience - letting the ball get deep,
• Swing tempo - Steel & Cotton, NOT swinging too hard, a less is more approach,
• Being short to the ball & long through it, and
• Swing balance - proper lower half mechanics.

The concepts above are what take care of 80% of swing faults, period.

Look,

Don't get Swing Smarter wrong, we can see the idea behind the products out there, and what they're attempting to accomplish, but not enough thought and preparation goes into designing or developing them.

Think about this,

Most of the safety features and performance improvements we see in the cars we drive today, from fuel efficiency to the rubber on our tires, come from elite race car driving teams such as in NASCAR.

We need to look to what top athletes are doing and develop baseball training aids around that. If it works for them, most likely it will work for the "little person."

I noticed this when I ran my first marathon, after running 5 miles I didn't have to make any adjustments to clothing, bio-mechanics, etc., but once I started running 10-20 miles during training, my knees starting hurting, I was getting chaffing from clothing I was running in, and needed to carry water and nutrient gels with me to keep from passing out.

I found out from top long distance ultra marathoners you need to run with the right bio-mechanics (which meant pain free running), getting Aquaphore (like Vasoline but 10 times better) to combat chaffing, using a Camelpak or water bottle for long runs, and to carry carbohydrate rich gel packs because your body only has enough fuel to run non-stop for 90 minutes, after that it begins horribly breaking down.

So, find what the best do, and mimic them... ultimately, don't get fooled when they endorse one of the many watered down baseball training aids out there, because more times than NOT they aren't using them in their original everyday training. That's the reality.